Single Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said this week he was “deeply disappointed” after MEPs voted in favour of radical changes to the draft directive on take-over bids

Date: 14/12/00

Bolkestein said the Parliament had overturned a crucial principle in the proposal that the management of target firms must consult shareholders before putting in place defensive 'poison pill' measures. As a result, he added, management could act to defend its own, potentially narrower interests rather than being obliged to act in the interests of shareholders as a whole. "This change would allow an important source of artificial take-over barriers to remain in place and so effectively hinder company restructuring on a pan-European level," he warned. Conciliation talks will be needed to try to settle differences over the final shape of the legislation.